In the beginning, God...

Men’s Retreat - Leaders God wants them to be

Everything I needed to know was in Genesis (I just didn’t realize it)

Revelation

Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Bible Doctrine (A. The Necessity for God to Reveal Himself to Us)

If we are to know God at all, it is necessary that he reveal himself to us.

Assumptions

The atheists choose the funniest option. “Nothing created everything.”

He is too great to be fully understood.

He is too different from us for us to find him.

1. God reveals himself through His Word.

Challenge: Developmental religion

Deuteronomy 32:45–47 ESV

45 And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. 47 For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judæa, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. - Tacitus

2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

2 Peter 1:21 ESV

21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Deut 13 gives the content as fixed according to the pattern.

Deuteronomy 18:20–22 ESV

20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

Other religions: Not one of them makes the claims of the Bible.

Nothing we have comes from us.

Our life is not dependent on us.

Since he is a person, nothing will definitively reveal him. There must be an element of faith.

Communication is possible. Relationships are possible. Love is possible. We are not alone.

2. God reveals himself as good.

Bias of authors

He can only be good if he’s powerful. He can only be good and powerful if He is love.

If he is loving, good and powerful, why would he let the bias of authors control revealing who He is?

Can God tell you something that you don’t like or that you disagree with? Would you submit to him?

2 Peter 3:15–17 ESV

15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.

What is the nature of evil? More than just ignorant behavior. Only with a God who the Bible reveals does evil make sense.

3. Our response must be adoring and grateful worship.

When I consider the works of your hands - Ps 8

Invite team

Will you learn from His Word?

Scripture-focused family that disciples in grace and truth

Will you worship God?

[phone]

Accuracy to life - explanation of evil, struggles in life

Archaeaology

Community Group questions

Have you ever struggled with believing God exists? If so, what caused you to doubt?

How does the Word of God deal with doubts? (Elijah- 1 Kings 19) (Gideon- Judges 6)

What’s something you have appreciated from God’s Word in the last month?

If God is good, how can we share His goodness with others? (Small things like helping others, big things like raising kids to do good in the world after we’re gone).

Who can you share God’s word and goodness with this week?